Eight suspects have been charged for their involvement in the kidnapping of Omar bin Omran, the Algerian man who was held captive in his neighbor's basement for nearly 27 years.
Omar vanished from his family home in El Guedid, Djelfa, when he was 17. His family believed all along that he was among the estimated 200,000 people killed or up to 20,000 people abducted during the bloody Algerian Civil War, which lasted from 1992 to 2002.
Highlights
- Eight people have been charged after Omar bin Omran was discovered living under captivity in his neighbor's basement.
- Omar is in "good shape," and has been receiving medical care, his cousin said.
- The 61-year-old man accused of holding Omar attempted to flee but was seized by police.
The man was rescued on May 12 after the sister of a neighbor hinted at his whereabouts in a social media post amid an inheritance dispute with her brother.
Eight people have been charged for their involvement in the kidnapping of Omar bin Omran, the man who went missing as a teen and was recently rescued from his neighbor's basement
Image credits: EnnaharTv
Police quickly obtained a search warrant for the house, located less than a few hundred meters away from where Omar grew up, and found him hidden in a sheep pen under haystacks.
A local court official said: "Following this report, the general prosecutor ordered the national gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation, and officers went to the house in question."
"They found him in a stable, where the suspect keeps his sheep, [the cellar trapdoor] covered in hay, and he was thankfully saved," Omar's cousin Khaled Rgueb said.
The 45-year-old vanished from his home in Djelfa, Algeria, when he was 17
Image credits: EnnaharTv
Khaled said his cousin had appeared to be "in good shape" when he reunited with him at the local hospital where authorities sent him for treatment.
"He is currently getting help and has been receiving medical care, both physical and psychological."
"He was able to speak to me and recognize me; his situation is not critical or bad. He is in good shape but he is currently receiving help to reintegrate into society and overcome what he went through."
According to Algerian media reports, Omar told his relatives that he was unable to escape because he was under a "spell" that his captor had cast on him. He still learned about his family's news, including his mother's death in 2007, by looking at them through the stable window.
His family believed he was among the estimated 200,000 people killed or up to 20,000 people abducted during the bloody Algerian Civil War
Image credits: EnnaharTv
The 61-year-old man accused of holding Omar reportedly attempted to flee but was seized by police.
According to Algeria's Judicial Council, eight people have been charged for the crime of abducting the man, now aged 45.
Six suspects have been detained, while two others have been placed under judicial supervision, meaning they can remain free while facing trial.
"A judicial investigation has been opened against the main suspect for the crime of kidnapping and luring a person, detaining a person without an order from the competent authorities and outside the cases permitted by the law, as well as human trafficking of a victim in a status of vulnerability," the council informed.
The secondary suspects were charged with abetting a crime by concealing the place where Omar was held captive and not informing authorities.
Algerian officials have said the "perpetrator of this heinous crime" will be punished severely.
Omar was finally rescued on May 12 after the sister of a neighbor hinted at his whereabouts in a social media post
Another horrible case of long-term abductions made headlines in 2013 when three women from Ohio, missing for more than a decade, were discovered alive in the home of Ariel Castro, a recently fired bus driver for the city school system in Cleveland.
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight were held captive by the former bus driver, who had chained, beaten, and starved them. Amanda, who gave birth to Castro's daughter in captivity, eventually managed to run for freedom and alert the neighbors.
In 2023, Rudy Farias was found sleeping in front of a church, severely beaten. His mother, Janie Santana, had reported him missing when he was 17 years old on March 6, 2015.
After the police found him, Rudy revealed that his mother had kept him at home, drugging and abusing him for years, forcing him to sleep in the same bed as her, and telling him that he "had to be her husband." Rudy reportedly managed to steal his mother's car and ran away because he was "tired of living like a slave."
"Makes you wonder about all the other missing people out there," a social media user wrote
